Agricultural harvesting machines, such as draper platforms, include a reciprocating knife disposed at the leading edge of the harvesting machine. These reciprocating knives are formed of an elongate bar to which many small knife blades are attached.
The reciprocating knife severs the crop plants at their roots permitting them to fall backward onto a conveyor belt. Typically, a crop ramp is provided that extends from the reciprocating knife, over the leading edge of the conveyor belt, and any gap between the knife the conveyor belt, and terminates on the upper surface of the conveyor belt.
The function of the crop ramp is to ensure that cut crop material is conveyed to the upper surface of the conveyor belt and does not fall into a gap or machinery between the reciprocating knife and the conveyor belt.
In recent years, draper platforms have been designed that permit the reciprocating knife and the conveyor belts to flex in order to more accurately follow the contours of the ground. In order to provide this flexure, crop ramps that extend across the entire width of the draper platform have been segmented into 50-100 shorter crop ramp segments.
Each crop ramp segment is typically about 10-20 cm wide. Each crop ramp segment overlaps adjacent crop ramp segments to reduce the possibility that cut crop material will become wedged into the spaces between adjacent crop ramps.
The crop ramp segments are typically made of plastic and rest lightly on the top surface of the conveyor belt, which is itself made of rubber-impregnated fabric.
One problem with this arrangement is that the crop ramps experience wear as they rub against the conveyor belts. Furthermore, as the draper platform flexes slight gaps will be created between the upper surface of the conveyor belt and the crop ramps that extend over the leading edge of the conveyor belt.
These gaps and wear on the crop ramps permit cut crop material to become inserted between the crop ramp and the upper surface of the conveyor belt. This material, once it is inserted into the gap, often gathers forming large clots or knots of rolled up crop material. These large clots or knots create permanent gaps between the crop ramp and the upper surface of the conveyor belt, that in turn permit even more cut crop material to make its way into the space.
Eventually, the farmer has to stop harvesting crops, climb down from his cab, walk around to the front of the draper platform, individually flex each crop ramp segment upward, and manually remove the knots or bunches of cut crop material wedged between the crop ramp and the upper surface of the conveyor belt.
Furthermore, the knots of rolled up crop material will wear away the upper surface of the conveyor belt, causing it to fail prematurely.
What is needed, therefore, is a new crop ramp segment that will reduce the amount of cut crop material that becomes wedged between the crop ramp segment and the upper surface of the conveyor belt by providing structures on the crop ramp that tend to clear or remove any cut crop material that manages to find its way between the crop ramp segment and the upper surface of the conveyor belt.
It is an object of this invention to provide such a new crop ramp segment.